SpectrUM to Host Flathead Tech and Science Festival on May 4

May 03, 2019

MISSOULA –Children, families and community members are invited to the second annual Flathead Tech and Science Festival from 1 to 4 p.m. on Saturday, May 4, at the Joe McDonald Center at Salish Kootenai College. The event is free and open to the public.

Visitors to the festival can challenge their creative-thinking skills at hands-on science stations and check out science fair projects by students from Ronan, Polson, Charlo and Hot Springs, creations from Tech4Good’s Spring Game Jam and Rube Goldberg machines made by students from local middle schools and the Boys and Girls Club of Lake County.

Funded by the U.S. Department of Education and the National Science Foundation, the Flathead Tech and Science Festival is part of a collective-impact effort on the Flathead Reservation to promote college and career readiness for preK-12 students. SpectrUM is organizing the event in partnership with Salish Kootenai College, UM’s Indigenous Research and STEM Education Program, Flathead Tech4Good, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and spectrUM’s SciNation advisory group.

“With SciNation, spectrUM collaborates with K-12 schools, the Tribes and community organizations to develop culturally relevant STEM programming designed to inspire students about higher education and career pathways,” said spectrUM Associate Director Jessie Herbert-Meny. “The festival is a programming highlight of community-wide efforts to foster a vibrant, homegrown, Native STEM workforce on the Flathead Reservation.”